WEATHER: A repeat of last weeks weather was in store for those of us who live here as well as for our visitors. A very cool, for us at least, early morning low in the mid 50's greeted all anglers when they arrived at the marina. Coats, or at least a nice sweatshirt was worn by those with thin blood but I did see a couple of crazy people walking around in tee shirts and shorts. Must have been freezing where they came from! Our afternoons were a very comfortable mid-80's experience every day, and the skies remained sunny until this weekend. High clouds moved in and while the temperatures did not change much, I kept thinking we were going to get rain. Of course we had no rain, the wrong kind of clouds for that, but the hope was there.

WATER: Water temperatures on the Pacific side of the Cape were in the 74-75 degree range between the San Jaime/Golden Gate Banks and the shoreline while the water on top of the banks and to the west of them was cooler by a degree. In the Sea of Cortez we had water temperatures a slight bit higher, averaging just one degree more, The water on the Pacific side appeared cleaner as well, most of the area showing a clean blue color while on the Cortez side it was just barely tinged with green. The biggest change we saw this week was to the immediate south of the Cape. The currents were strong enough this week that a 2 degree temperature break formed about 30 to 40 miles to the south and southwest of the arch. The cool water on the inside of this break (this cool water formed a “V” at first, with warmer water on both sides) was 74 degrees and the warmer water at both edges was 76 degrees.

BAIT: Plenty of both Mackerel and Caballito were available this week at the normal $3 per bait.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: Everyone saw a drop in the Marlin bite this week as the currents ran stronger and the baitfish scattered a bit. Combine that with the full moon and we were not too surprised at this. It made every Marlin caught all the more desirable though, and a few boats were lucky enough to release several per trip. With the strong current and scattered bait, trolling while looking for tailing fish to throw bait at was a better method than soaking a live bait deep on the high spots. The better areas to fish for Marlin were still on the Pacific side and to the northern edge of our daily fishing area. Specificly, around and to the inside of the Golden Gate Bank offered more opportunities to hook a billfish than other areas. Marlin sizes were ranging from 90 pounds to 180 pounds with an average of 110 pounds.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: We were all excited the week before last when suddenly the catches of Yellowfin Tuna increased from almost nil to almost limits. Combined with the fact that the fish were not too far away and we were almost partying on the docks. Well, things changed a bit and the fish moved away. Not out of reach, but you needed to dedicate an entire day to fishing for them as it took a while to get out 30 to 40 miles and then find the porpoise pods the Yellowfin were associated with. Boats that made the trip reported excellent fishing for Yellowfin between 12 and 25 pounds with a few larger fish to 45 pounds in the mix. The only problem with going out there was that you needed to be early on the fish, boats that appeared later did not have as good of luck as the early arrivals. And, from all the reports I received, there were no other species found on the way out there or on the way back except for an occasional Striped Marlin. As you may have guessed, this was around the edges of that temperature break I mentioned earlier.

DORADO: Dorado continued to be caught by boats working near the shoreline, but there were fewer of them this week and the average size was around 12 pounds, down a pound or two from last weeks average. We had one client out this week who managed to catch two Dorado on the fly rod, chumming to get them close enough to cast to, and this was on the Cortez side of the Cape, around the Cabo Del Sol area. So it appears that there are some fish around in the warmer Cortez water as well now. With the water cleaning up a bit in this area, there may be a bit more effort put in by the local fleet to work the waters around the 1150 and the Seamount.

WAHOO: I did hear of a few boats that did well on Wahoo this week, and I am not too surprised since we had a full moon. However, having said that, these were boats that focused on the Wahoo. For the large majority of boats, Wahoo were an incidental catch, if they had a strike at all. The Wahoo that were caught were found in their usual haunts, along the edge of drop-offs and on the top of underwater pinnacles.

INSHORE: Sierra, Sierra and more Sierra. If you wanted to catch Sierra there was almost a guarantee offered by the Panga Captains! Of course you had to put in a bit more effort than last week as the currents moved the Sardinas around and the Sierra moved with them. The bait broke up into smaller schools and the Sierra followed suit, becoming scattered up and down the coast and not heavily concentrated in one area like they were last week. Trolling hootchies and watching for fish breaking the surface was the key, and once you found where there were fish, chumming and fishing with strip baits resulted in fish that were slightly larger than those caught on the hootchies. A few Roosterfish as well as Grouper and Snapper were found, and plenty of Skipjack bit on the hootchies as well.

FISH RECIPE: Keep it simple! A dorado fillet with salt and pepper on an oiled grill cooked perfectly, and then a sauce I made with peach marmalade, white wine and crushed hot peppers drizzled on top. Serve that up with some garlic mashed potatoes and a glass of white wine made you think you were in a five star restaurant!

NOTES: I have yet to receive a reply from the CONAPESCA San Diego office concering the price increase on fishing licenses, so basicly “it is what it is” and they are $181 pesos for a daily license at the dock. Lots of whales are being seen on the fishing trips, we are in the middle of whale season with plenty of Gray Whales and Humpback Whales spouting and breaching all over the place. This weeks report was written to the music of Hayes Carll on his CD “Little Rock”. Until next week, tight lines!Often copied, never duplicated, no plagiarism, all original, and on line for the past 13 years, I hope you enjoy my weekly reports!And as always, George writes this report